Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do is again facing scrutiny regarding the potential use of taxpayer money for his re-election campaign, as his office spent nearly a quarter of a million in county dollars on a stream of mass mailers featuring his name.

Now it appears that many of the taxpayer-funded mailers were targeted based on detailed voter databases, an approach normally used by political campaigns.

So far in this election year, Do’s office has spent more than $240,000 on 1.2 million mailers, with at least 400,000 of them sent out in the past three months.

Many of the mailers have prominently featured Do’s name, such as one that declares, “Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do is Helping the People of Orange County Find Their Unclaimed Property.” Do’s name is highlighted in large, bold, orange font.

County of Orange

An example of one of the taxpayer-funded mailers sent out by the county. The mailer was an invite to an event about unclaimed property.

And now, invoice records obtained by Voice of OC indicate that Do’s office has used data provided by a political information company to get 199,000 voter records for the mailers. If this turns out to be the case, experts say the mailers would appear to be political in nature. And both state law and county policy ban the use of public money for political purposes.

The invoices show that Do’s chief of staff at the county, Brian Probolsky – who also works as a consultant for his re-election campaign – used $2,500 in county funds to obtain mailing lists for the county mailers from the Norwalk-based company, Political Data Inc. (PDI)

Voter registration data can be a powerful tool to target a mailer toward specific groups of people, such as the most active voters, known in the industry as “high propensity voters.”

The PDI mailing lists that Probolsky requested were intended for county-funded mass mailings to specific types of people within Do’s district, according to the invoices. The invoices describe the PDI mailing lists with names like “Spanish 40-56,” “Vietnamese,” and “Prop 13 mailer.”

Probolsky appears to have used PDI’s data to get about 199,000 voter records. In addition, all of Do’s 1.2 million county-funded mailers were printed and mailed using the same political mailing companies that are used for Do’s re-election campaign, records show, raising further questions about whether the mailers were targeted at specific voters.

Do and Probolsky declined Voice of OC’s requests for comment about how they chose the recipients for the county-funded mass mailers that featured Do. Instead, they issued a statement about the public benefits of the events that the mailers invited people to.

”We’ve tried to change the culture at the county – to get bureaucrats out of their cubicles and into our community,” Do said in the statement. “I’m proud that our community events have helped working families find jobs, expanded access to health care for patients in need, and educated parents about ways to protect our children from violent predators.”

Paul Mitchell, PDI’s vice president, declined to comment on what data was provided. But he did say that, in general, many of the firm’s clients are elected officials who use PDI’s services to maintain contact with voters, such as sending out flyers for a health fair.

Legal and ethics experts were troubled by the idea of an elected official using voter data to target taxpayer-funded mass mailers that feature himself in an election year.

“That’s the first time I’ve heard something like that,” said Bob Stern, who co-authored California’s political ethics law. “Obviously it’s troubling if they’re using a political consulting firm to pick the voters they’re sending [mailers to]. Then that may be more like a campaign mailer as opposed to a county mailer.”

Fred Woocher, one of the state’s most prominent election law attorneys, agreed.

“If he’s not equally targeting people who are his constituents to these events, then that’s a pretty inappropriate use of county resources, and it tends to support the theory that this is done for political purposes rather than for a legitimate legislative purpose,” Woocher said.

“There’s a criminal statute, and potential civil liabilities as well, for using public resources for any partisan political activities” or campaign activities, Woocher said.

Good government expert Tracy Westen said the mailers should be to all constituents, regardless of whether they’re voters on not. If the mailers appear to be targeting certain voters, “that would indicate to me that it’s more political,” he said.

All $224,000 in taxpayer funds spent on Do’s mass-mailing effort this year went to political mailing and data companies that also work for his campaign, according to county data reviewed by Voice of OC.

The vast majority of that money went to The Monaco Group, which also handles Do’s re-election mailers. The popular campaign mail firm says it “specializes in Printing and Direct Mail Production services for Political Campaigns, and Fundraising and other politically oriented clients and organizations.”

The Monaco Group employee listed on the county purchase orders is Judy McKnight. When reached by phone, she denied knowing anything about Do’s county mailers.

“I have no idea about that,” she said, before hanging up on a reporter.

Another $18,000 in county payments for the mailers went to DMH Meyer, Inc., a political direct-mail firm that’s also done work for Do’s re-election campaign.

Darin Henry, who runs the firm, said he didn’t pick any of the mailer recipients. He said he thinks he designed one of Do’s county mailers and someone at the county designed a couple of them.

Shirley Grindle, who has been the county’s political ethics watchdog since the 1970s, filed a complaint Thursday with the state Fair Political Practices, alleging that the mailers violate state law limiting references to elected officials on taxpayer-funded mailers.

In her complaint, Grindle says it’s “offensive” that the mailers “are being sent only to voting constituents in Supervisor Do’s district AND Supervisor Do is running for election on the November 2016 general election.”

“If elected officials are allowed to produce mailers of this type at public expense, particularly in their election years, then it gives that elected official an unfair advantage over any challengers who do not have the benefit of using public funds to promote themselves,” Grindle wrote.

A campaign official for Do’s opponent also called for an investigation.

“If the mail pieces are not engineered to help his political campaign – then why would he use his political consultant and a company called ‘Political Data’ as the vendors?” said Derek Humphrey, a campaign consultant for Michele Martinez.

“It’s clear to anyone paying attention that Andrew Do is using taxpayer dollars to run his re-election campaign. I honestly don’t understand how he thought he could get away with this.”

Nick Gerda covers county government and Santa Ana for Voice of OC. You can contact him at ngerda@voiceofoc.org.

BOS Do and the GOP Probe are errily confident in their misuse of public funds.

Like all criminals they just continue getting bolder and taking larger sums of public funds.

Who is going to stop them?

Great article VofOC.

David Zenger

“BOS Do and the GOP Probe are errily confident in their misuse of public funds.”

Wouldn’t you if the DA was Rackauckas?

Jacki Livingston

David wins today’s logic award!

Jacki Livingston

Let me tell you who won’t stop them…VoC. This kind of story looks serious. But when they have had employees of agencies coming to them for years with files and emails and information, and you see it published in the Sacramento Bee, not in the county where it is happening, you have to wonder if maybe the status quo is a comfortable tut that takes too much effort to alter.

David Zenger

The County is now promulgating public information press releases that are little more than personal PR for the supervisors, each of whom get a complimentary and completely unnecessary quotation written by the egregious Jean Pasco.

Rivett

Pasco was the County’s de-facto mouthpiece for years before they finally put her on the official payroll. At least now she doesn’t have to pretend to be a journalist.

David Zenger

I don’t think that’s quite fair.

I believe she used to be a reputable reporter for the LA Times – until Clerk-Recorder Tom Daly seduced her with the job (and a pension) as Archivist that she had absolutely no qualifications for. It was there that she learned a lot of bad County behavior.

Her name was on the Agenda Staff Report in January 2008 that deliberately lied to the BOS about the condition of the tear-down building at 433 W. Civic Center Drive – purchased as home for the County Archive and Daly’s beloved OC Sports Hall of Fame(!) for which he paid political hack Brett Barbre $50,000 to “study.” She surely know about the “smoking gun memo” from the previous June that fully described the parlous condition of that rat trap and the cost of making it habitable for humans and archival material.

That derelict hulk still sits there today, a semi-permanent monument to malfeasance and the art of looking the other way. Today she write stupid PR material for the Supervisors masquerading as PSAs.

After Hieu Nguyen took over in April 2013 Giancola had to find a soft place for Pasco to land. I don’t know why he did that, but he did.

OCservant_Leader

Agreed. I believe she was an actual journalist who had to make the hard decision between personal ethics…and paying her OC mortgage. Greed will always win out in the OC.

She had NO idea what she was stepping into. By the time she realized that she would become the mouthpiece for the corruption, it was too late. The velvet handcuffs have no key.

She has to make 10 years for pension – so she has until 2018 – and they are going to take advantage of her and push her to the brink of her personal integrity. Then she will have to sign a non-disclosure agreement to keep the secrets.

There is not a grain of truth or fact in any OC PR. Like in advertising they spin fairy tales…give everyone their talking points…smile as they lie and go to church and beg for forgiveness.

I worked there for 20 years and there was no connection to reality and what was released from PIO. We would watch the BOS meetings for really good entertainment. It was amazing to see how they scrubbed the ASRs during the EA briefing process.

Staff could easily provide real time fact checking on ASRs and shut the whole charade down and Ms. Paso would be out of a job. Building #10 would crumble. The dinosaur model whereby THEY control all the information is extinct.

Maybe this new Ethics Commission can hire a citizen’s fact checker to represent…the citizens??

@Dan Chmielewski

Jean Pasco has more ethics and integrity in her baby toe than you have in your entire body Mr. Zenger. You must play Springsteen’s “Glory Days” in your head when you comment here on county government. What’s it been? Three years since you were fired? As far as Jean Pasco goes, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Stick to writing about those you have a personal grudge with. Good luck with your ongoing job search.

Jacki Livingston

And you have no ethics or integrity at all. You are one of those who were given info about the organized crime, assault, deaths and embezzlement and fraud happening in nursing homes here, and you did nothing. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, pal, and keeping your job in the rancid cesspool of the county, where sheriffs are used as Spritzers personal Guido threat service is hardly something to brag about as some proof of ethics. Jerk.

David Zenger

Don’t pay any attention to that idiot. I assure you nobody else does. He wriggles into a Spider Man costume and goes to comic book conventions.

@Dan Chmielewski

And employers certainly aren’t paying any attention to you Dave. I have a ways to go before I hit 60. You’ll be there long before me. Target is hiring for the Holidays!

Jacki Livingston

Wow…that was so mature and thoughtful. No wonder you have no time or inclination to deal with inconveniences like corruption and abuse of patients. It was the big words, huh?

Jacki Livingston

Hey, I am a fan of Black Sails and Once Upon a Time, love Comic Con with my grandson, but, yeah, that is pretty creepy.

@Dan Chmielewski

I have no idea what you’re talking about, but take another hit off that bong

Jacki Livingston

I don’t do drugs, Danny boy, unlike the rising star at SSA dealing cocaine. I sent a letter to thirty officials, including you, about the fraud and corruption. You did nothing. So keep spouting the ethics and integrity crap, like Toddy.

@Dan Chmielewski

I have no recollection of ever having received this letter. Did anything ever happen due to your whistle-blowing?

Jacki Livingston

No, sir. If you did not get the letter, I apologize. I was able to get my clients back about three hundred thousand, before I spent six years being assaulted, lied about and my career destroyed. I was forced to retire after multiple threats, and have been blackballed. I can’t get a job, anywhere, and they are blocking my disability retirement. I did my job, I tried to stop crime and fraud, and I lost everything. I can prove it all, and Spritzer knew it. It is getting worse.

Jacki Livingston

Not only that, but I was forced out, and blackballed. I had a mini stroke while I was at work, and had a workers comp claim for eight hundred dollars that they spent a fortune fighting. They did everything they could to discredit me. I have boxes of files and evidence, showing wrongdoing. Spitzer avoided testifying by getting his wife to assign my case to his close friend and legal client, to strongarm me out. It is a shocking story, and I can prove every word of it.

Paul Lucas

Can anyone elaborate on the criminal statute and civil penalties that may have be violated here?

Jacki Livingston

Do you want what they would be in the real world, or in Tony the Toothless Tigger Town?

Roderick Powell

Andrew Do will one day wind up in prison!

Jacki Livingston

Most likely falling on his sword for Janet Nguyen.

David Zenger

“There’s a criminal statute…”

Hooray! Go get ’em Tony!

Oh, right.

Paul Lucas

lol

Jacki Livingston

Tony thought they said ‘statue’, so he sent Schroeder over to polish it.